In a dimly lit room with all its doors closed, there lies a single glowing blue treasure chest.
Do you open it?
(Joker sure would like to.)
“… room …. Wrong … stay … can’t … don’t leave …”
The connection, as terribly static and hard to make out as it was, suddenly broke into an eerie silence.
“Oracle? Oracle?! Oracle do you read me?”
There was no response. The communicator was as dead as the exits to the room they found themselves in. Akechi swore vehemently underneath his breath and resisted the urge to throw the device against the nearest wall. “I don’t suppose we can leave the way that we entered can we?”
Everything about this heist had been strange. First was the fact that somehow they got transported here just from Sakamoto mentioning the word ‘dream’. Then, there was the fact that everyone got split up almost as soon as they stepped foot into the building. (A hotel of some sort?) There was also the fact that the pathways and rooms seemed to change every time that they entered and exited a room, but that just seemed a given from the way everything had gone.
“Doesn’t seem like it,” Morgana responded sadly as he tried to push open the heavy wooden door that had slammed shut as soon as they entered the room, “it won’t budge.”
From a brief glance around the circular room, there didn’t seem to be any other way out. Akechi sighed as he first tried the handle of the door (stuck) and then positioned his shoulder against the door. “The two of us then? One, two-“
“Hey, do you think this is the treasure?”
At the word treasure, Morgana sprang from the door towards the center of the room where there was indeed a large, glowing blue, treasure chest. “Whoa joker, where did you find that? It wasn’t here when we entered.”
Akechi watched, with his hand still warily grasping the handle to the door, as the leader of the phantom thieves simply shrugged and circled the chest. “Don’t know, it just appeared when I approached the center of the room. Do you think this is the treasure we’re looking for?”
“Eh, just like that? We haven’t sent out a calling card!”
Morgana had a point there, but more importantly- “You think the treasure would be a literal treasure chest?”
Ren shot him a challenging smirk, “well, maybe not, but a treasure chest surely must have something good inside right?”
Akechi thought back to Oracle’s aborted warning. The door he was leaning against that still refused to budge. He opened his mouth even as Ren stood in front of the treasure chest with the intent of opening it. “I don’t know if that’s a good idea-“ His warning was cut off in a flash of light and the sound of a child crying.
In a blink, he was standing in front of a door. His ears were ringing as he pushed the door open. “Joker, what just happened?”
There was no one to answer him. He found himself in a circular room with multiple doors and televisions stacked against the walls. Distorted piano music and static filled the air. (None of the televisions were showing anything other than static.) Akechi took a deep breath as he spun around to take in the number of doors (potential exits) and get his bearing straight. Somehow, spinning around just made him dizzy and the doors all looked the same. In fact they looked exactly like- which door had he come from again?
Growling, he picked a door at random and pushed against it, catching a glimpse of what appeared to be an afterimage of Morgana pushing against the door next to it. (“Joker I’m stuck! Get me out of here!”) The image disappeared as quickly as the door he chose opened into a long hallway. A sense of foreboding filled his guts, but he walked down the hallway only to be led- back into the circular room he had just come from.
“Are you kidding me right now?!”
“Oh Crow, when did you get here? I thought I was the only one in here.” Akechi whirled around to find Joker entering the room from one of its many doors. “You didn’t see Mona on your way here did you?”
He briefly thought back to the ghostly figure of Morgana pressing against a door and asking Joker for help. “No, I ended up in a room by myself. Was that the case for you as well, Joker?”
“Hmm, looks like we’re missing a navigator since we can’t reach Oracle and Mona’s nowhere to be found.” Akechi couldn’t help but notice that Ren didn’t answer his question. “Which door do you think is the right one, Crow?” Ren idly gestured towards the wooden doors along the walls. They all appeared similar except some of them seemed to glitch from brown to red. Akechi blinked and then hesitantly picked a door that wasn’t glitching. (If it was the door that he just so happened to be standing in front of well-)
“Good choice.”
The air seemed to shriek when he pushed the door opened and his vision was filled with white. When his vision cleared he found himself trapped in a circular room. It was dark with no entrances or exist, and in the middle of the room was a single opened treasure chest. Hesitantly, he approached the treasure chest (surely there must be something good inside) only to find that it was an empty box.
Arms suddenly wrapped themselves around his waist and he tried to throw off the person pressed against his back with little effect. “And now you’re here with me,” a familiar voice whispered into his ear, “and you won’t be able to leave me again, my treasure.”
Dan Feng, the self proclaimed guardian of his twin’s innocence (not that Dan Heng would ever see it that way) had thoughts about the types of men his brother tended to attract.
Dan Heng was kinda hot.
This was only to be expected given that Dan Feng, his twin, was also pretty hot but- he digresses, his twin was hot and this tended to attract unwanted attention from men that frankly did not deserve that sort of attention from the younger twin. And, as Dan Heng’s self proclaimed guardian (not that Dan Heng would ever see it that way), he took on the important role of weeding out the riff raft and protecting his dear twin’s innocence. (Dan Heng would strongly disagree that he was ever innocent, but this isn’t about him.)
Now, if that protection came with the implication that Dan Feng was the campus manwhore who was always looking for a good time, well, depending on your perspective, that just meant the college campus had a very good or very bad taste in men (or a man rather).
(Dan Heng looked at his twin in disgust when he came back from a 4 pm lab to see two very naked guys curled up next to Dan Feng on the couch. “Really? You couldn’t have taken this to the bedroom? Do you know how much it’s going to take to disinfect the couch?”
“I do this for you, dear brother.”
The younger twin just snorted as he walked to their shared bedroom and let his book bag fall onto to ground, “sure, I think you’re just using that as an excuse for your own horniness.”
He frowned, as one of his bed, couch?, partners gently caressed his lower back. How was it fair that Dan Feng was the one who received snide remarks when he never made a modicum of complaint against the guys that Dan Heng would bring back to their place on occasion. No matter how loud they got.)
For the most part, Dan Feng did a pretty good job of redirecting the lust of the general population of Dan Heng admirers. They both shared the same pretty face, and the people he ended up with seemed to be happy to have gotten one of the twins, seemingly uncaring of which particular twin they shared spit with. (“Was the guy you were with calling my name while he was railing you?” “Yeah, I think he thought I was you the whole time.” “… awkward.” “Very.”)
There were, however, two very notable exceptions. Two very notable exceptions that, unfortunately, knew both twins since they were in grade school.
“Jing Yuan stop looking at my brother with those bedroom eyes of yours.”
He smacked the white haired man across his back as hard as he could, but Jing Yuan either did not care or did not notice. “Mmm, he looks lonely sitting there all alone.” Dan Feng squinted at Dan Heng who was sitting across the courtyard from them, under the shade of a very large oak tree. His twin didn’t seem lonely, he seemed enraptured by his notes and textbook actually. “You think I should go over there to keep him company?”
“No,” he said as dryly as he could manage, “I think he’s doing homework and you’re just going to bother him.”
“Mmm, do you know if he’s taking econ or finances this semester. I could help him with those, maybe even tutor him if he’s struggling. Do you think he’d appreciate me tutoring-“
“Jing yuan, I will slaughter you before I let you near my baby brother.”
Jing yuan’s eyes crinkled in amusement as he nodded his head in the direction of his twin, or rather the man that had decided the tree Dan Heng was sitting under was the perfect spot to stand (or slump rather) against. “Then what do you plan on doing to Ren in that case?”
“Ren! You take one more step next to Dan Heng and I will make sure you do not survive to see tomorrow!”
(Dan Heng just snorted when he heard his twin shout. It would be amusing how overprotective his twin got, if it wasn’t getting in the way of his love life as it was.)
Ratiing: T
Series: The King’s Avatar / Quan Zhi Gao Shou (全职高手)
Pairing: Implied Yelan (Ye Xiu x Lan he/xu boyuan), blink and you’ll miss it sanxiulan ( su muqiu x ye xiu x lan he/xu boyuan)
Sun Xiang blinked when the notification that an account unknown to him was now online.
...
Xu Boyuan forgot that One Leaf of Autumn was no longer being controlled by Ye Xiu.
Sun Xiang was practicing movesets on One Leaf of Autumn when there was a soft ping and a notification on the side of his screen. He scowled and glanced over at the corner to read the popup. Wild Blue Flowers is online.
Wild Blue Flowers? He blinked. That wasn’t an account that he was familiar with, was this someone that his predecessor had added as a friend? He scowled, how unprofessional of him, adding randos as friends all willy nilly like that.
He started a private message with the account.
One Leaf of Autumn: Who is this?
A response came a moment later.
Wild Blue Flowers: haha has it been so long you’ve forgotten? guess ;)
Sun Xiang frowned, whoever it was was obviously messing with him.
One Leaf of Autumn: No because I was just given this account. I am Sun Xiang, who are you?
He flexed his fingers as he waited a response, one that seemed a long time coming as the stranger on the other end finally realized they weren’t talking to Ye Qiu but to Sun Xiang, his successor in Excellent Era.
One Leaf of Autumn: No words? You’re taking an awfully long time to respond.
Wild Blue Flowers: Sorry, I forgot that this account no longer belongs to God Ye.
One Leaf of Autumn: Oh? You just caught up with the news? Who are you?
Wild Blue Flowers: I’m sorry, I pulled an all nighter and forgot about Ye Qiu’s retirement. - - ;
One Leaf of Autumn: You never answered my question.
Wild Blue Flowers: Xu Chunsi
Sun Xiang frowned at the name. Xu Chunsi? Was that a person he was supposed to reocgnize? Or was this a fan that Ye Qiu had met on Glory and gotten close to? That predecessor of his, so shameless. He would show the whole world just how much better he was.
One Leaf of Autumn: Was that so hard? I hope you look forward to our next match with Blue Rain.
He exited the chat window and went back to practicing his movesets.
...
Xu Boyuan sighed as he let his head fall back onto the headrest of his chair. The 10th server had only recently opened, no one could have predicted a monster like Lord Grim suddenly appearing on the scene. A few days and already the man had claimed two first clears. It only made his job as the 10th server guild leader that much harder, and he could already feel a headache beginning to start from the guy.
He sighed and walked over to the window at the night scene below him. Boyuan smiled softly to him. The sight of his hometown unfolded before him, people walking on the streets chattering happily amongst each other and hawkers in the distance shouting about their wares, never failed to fill him with a sense of ease. The night was warm, as always, and slightly humid from the rain that had just fallen. He cracked open the window to let in some air before walking back to his seat.
He stared at the screen blankly, Glory used to be so fun. Working for the Blue Brook Guild had been nothing short of a dream when he had signed on. When had his dream turned into this? “I think I’m going to log off for the night,” he said over voice chat to Bound Boat. “I’m starting to get a headache.” He ignored the surprised sound from Bound Boat and the choirs of ‘good night’ from other members in his team as he yawned and logged off the game, removing the account card.
He didn’t move from his seat when the account card was removed, opting instead to stare at it. Blue River. That was the name of his account in the 10th server. It followed a naming pattern that he had established ever since he joined Blue Brook Guild. Blue Bridge Spring Snow was his main account, and now he had named his side account Blue River.
In fact this pattern had started long before he joined the guild. His first account was-
He found himself digging through his top drawer until his hands brushed against an old first edition card. He inserted it into the card reader before he could think better of it.
Boyuan smiled when he found an old and familiar witch standing in the midst of a mid level forest. Su Muqiu and Ye Xiu had insisted on playing with him when they both found out he played Glory, dragging his account through the levels slowly, but, ever since Muqiu’s death- the smile faded and he wandered around the forest, testing a few skills to reorient himself to his old character.
It was a moment of whimsy that made him check his friends list. One that made him sad at all the grayed out names, old friends that would never been seen again, and the soft chuckle when he saw the one name that was still lit up. One Leaf of Autumn was online. He chuckled to himself as he prepared to send out a message to the man. That Ye Xiu, never resting.
He was shocked when he received a message from the other account first.
One Leaf of Autumn: Who is this?
He blinked, it wasn’t possible that Ye Xiu was already suffering from memory loss in his old age was it? He hadn’t even hit 30 yet.
Wild Blue Flowers: haha has it been so long you’ve forgotten? guess ;)
A response came almost immediately from the other account that made him want to slam his head in his keyboard.
One Leaf of Autumn: No because I was just given this account. I am Sun Xiang, who are you?
Right, it was all over the news and the subject of much rumor amongst the players, including the guild members. Ye Qiu had retired from Excellent Era. Whoever was on the other end of the screen, it wasn’t the Ye Xiu that had dragged him along on dungeon parties with just the two of them under the guise of “training”. He closed his eyes to force back an unbidden memory of a younger Ye Xiu pressed close against his back, but couldn’t stop the shudder that ran through his body.
He looked at the screen. What should he say?
One Leaf of Autumn: No words? You’re taking an awfully long time to respond.
Wild Blue Flowers: Sorry, I forgot that this account no longer belongs to God Ye.
One Leaf of Autumn: Oh? You just caught up with the news? Who are you?
He bit his lip as he typed up an excuse. Sun Xiang was an ass. He couldn’t believe that the man had inherited Ye Xiu’s account like that. Just how bad were Ye Xiu’s juniors? No wonder the man retired if they were all like this.
Wild Blue Flowers: I’m sorry, I pulled an all nighter and forgot about Ye Qiu’s retirement. - - ;
He picked up his mug of tea and drank the rest of the lukewarm liquid. He would have to get up and make more at this rate when a response came from Sun Xiang.
One Leaf of Autumn: You never answered my question.
He hesitated and began to type. ‘Xu Boy-’ He stopped and chewed on his lower lip. Should he give his real name? What if it got back to Blue Brook somehow? He would be in a lot of trouble if it did, and he couldn’t trust Sun Xiang not to blab about this. He backspaced the last three letters and searched wildly for a psuedonym to give to the pro player. In that moment he thought about his warm bed at home and how he wanted to get back and make himself a proper meal and he began to type-
Wild Blue Flowers: Xu Chunsi
Boyuan looked at the bottom of his mug in disappointment. How could he forget Ye Xiu was no longer with Excellent Era? Why did he decide to log onto his old account? If he was going to head back home after this, he probably shouldn’t make another pot of tea.
One Leaf of Autumn: Was that so hard? I hope you look forward to our next match with Blue Rain.
Tch. What an ass. Boyuan’s opinion of Sun Xiang had not improved one bit during this whole exchange. “And who wants to see you on the competition stage? Shit, I hope our Blue Rain crushes you into the dirt.” The computer screen did not respond, but he also didn’t expect it to. He tore the account card out of the card reader and left to go home.
A/N: This is technically from the same verse as the previous fic, but I haven’t made the a/b/o-ness super obvious here. (If you’re wondering lan he is omega and sun xiang is alpha.)
And if anyone was wondering the account name is ye lan hua(野蓝花).
Rating: T
Pairing: yelan (ye xiu x lan he/xu boyuan), mentioned sanxiulan (su muqiu x ye xiu x lan he/xu boyuan)
Warnings: Mentioned character death
When he walked to the grave site, there was someone already waiting there.
Ye Xiu had long memorized the path to Su Muqiu’s grave site tucked away in the tree lined cemetery. In one hand he tightly clenched a plastic bag filled with tangerines, a box of dumplings, and some steamed buns (one meat, one vegetable). He hadn’t brought any incense but, well, he was sure that Su Mucheng at least was keeping a small shrine to her dead brother somewhere. He would just have to ask her to light another set of sticks when he got back.
Besides, knowing Muqiu, his friend would have probably mocked him for lighting incense in front of his grave. Although, he could have just as easily teased him for forgetting. His lips twisted into a smile at the thought.
He stopped at the foot of the pathway along which Muqiu’s grave sat. There was a young man sitting at the foot Muqiu’s tombstone. He could faintly hear the sounds of speech but was too far away to make out what he was saying closely. Ye Xiu looked at the man and then counted to tombstones to make sure he wasn’t just sitting at a nearby tombstone. He looked up to the man when he affirmed it was most likely his (8 from this end of the pathway).
He frowned as he slowly approached the young man, trying to figure out just who he could be and why he looked familiar, catching the last bits of conversation as he did. “... Chun here. I wanted to bring them with but, well, they’re still rather young. They wouldn’t understand.” The young man looked ready to say more when Ye Xiu’s shadow loomed over him, he stoped and glanced up. “Can I hel- Ye Xiu?”
It was the way the young man called out his voice and sunlight glinting off his soft brown hair that finally jogged his memory. “Oh, Xu Boyuan, I wasn’t expecting to see you here.” He sat down next to him. “Do you come here often?”
Boyuan looked away from him and twitched slightly. “Mmm, it’s Muqiu’s death day, so I thought I should visit. It takes a bit of time to get here from City G.” Ye Xiu stared at his face and raised a hand to placed on his shoulder when the young man flinched and looked at him, eyes wide in shock. “I mean! If it’s okay for me to come here of course! I know that usually it’s just family that comes and-”
Ye Xiu switched the topic before the man could say any more, “so you found out that he’s dead huh?” He itched for a cigarette, but he had a feeling it would be a bit rude to smoke in front of a dead man’s tombstone. The wind brushed his hair and he could almost imagine Muqiu scolding him for smoking before stealing his cig.
Boyuan open and closed his mouth as he watched the complex emotions play about Ye Xiu’s face before looking at the tombstone before the two of them. Su Muqiu’s name was written in large black strokes. “To be honest, I knew when you and Mucheng found out. I was there when you heard the news.” A moment of silence as he lowered his head and sighed. “I had something that I wanted to tell you, but- but it wasn’t the time.”
Silence fell among the two once more. “Is it the right time to tell me now,” Ye Xiu wondered out loud and received no response. He breathed out and finally gathered the courage to place a hand on Boyuan’s waist and pull the other man closer to him. “Mmm, it probably doesn’t matter now.”
Boyuan didn’t say a word and folded himself comfortably into his side, his head resting on Ye Xiu’s shoulder. Ye Xiu’s breath hitched a bit. How long had it been since he had seen Xu Boyuan? How long had it been since he would walk in onto Su Muqiu typing away at the keyboard, muttering to himself about attributes and bugs and no this line couldn’t be right, with Boyuan curled up against his side just like this, sound asleep. He squeezed Boyuan tighter and closed his eyes tightly when he felt the younger man’s soft breaths tickle his neck.
It brought up other memories. Memories full of heat and warm, softness and sunshine streaming through curtains and the three of them tucked against each other under a heavy quilt, Boyuan cradled between them like a precious treasure. His breath became uneven when he recalled the sleepy look that Boyuan had in mornings, greeting him with a gentle kiss before Muqiu tightened his grasp on their omega and whined about not getting his morning kiss and-
There were no more soft and warm beds. No more heat and warmth and sunshine that teased them awake. There was only a cold cementary and Muqiu’s gravestone in front of them.
“I should go now,” Boyuan breathed against his neck and he tried not to shudder form the sensation. “I’ve been here a while and I wanted to get some pictures of West Lake and do some more sightseeing before I leave for City G.” Ye Xiu tried not to feel sorrow at the fact that Boyuan was leaving him after not seeing him for so long. Boyuan, unlike Muqiu, was at least alive. He squeezed the omega’s side tightly before letting him go to clean up and gather his things.
“You brought food as well huh,” Boyuan mentioned when he noticed the bag that Ye Xiu still hand in his other hands as he scooped up orange peels and plastic wrappers and one empty green tea bottle. “If I had known you were coming I wouldn’t have brought so much.” At the base of the tombstone, there was a box that was half inexpertly made dumplings (some looked to be falling apart) and half delicate slices of meat and vegetables layered neatly over steamed rice. He gulped. Bao Zai Fan. Su Muqiu had developed a taste for it and Xu Boyuan had happily made it for them when they lived together. Boyuan reached for the box but stopped himself before he could touch it. “I’ll leave this here,” he announced as he tied the plastic bag he was using to carry his trash. “This was always Muqiu’s favorite and ... well, I find it hard to eat it.”
He gave Ye Xiu a wistful smile before wishing him a good day and standing up to leave.
“Boyuan,” he called out when he heard the omega start to walk away.
“Hmm? Did you need me?”
Ye Xiu looked at up the younger man, remembering the conversation he picked up when he arrived. “Whose Spring*?”
There was a pause before a wry smile crossed Boyuan’s face. “My pet dog, one of a pair.” He waved goodbye with a tilt of his head and left Ye Xiu alone with Muqiu’s tombstone and his thoughts.
A/N: *Chun(春) means spring.
I have an abo verse for this series developing in the back of my mind, but we’ll see how much I actually create for it.
... also I’m tempted to write a fic where ... Muqiu kinda returns from the dead to reunite with these two but we’ll see |D (It might not be this particular abo verse, it might be, we’ll see)
Me: *planning to make Huang Shaotian the alpha and Yu Wenzhou the omega in this fic*
Big brain moment: okay but what if Huang Shaotian is the omega?
Galaxy brain moment: Huang Shaotian is the omega, but he pretends to be an alpha, and Yu Wenzhou is the alpha who pretends to be the omega of the pair because everyone overlooks omegas
The glaives aren't happy about having to get up early for training.
There's only one answer to this: negotiations.
“Eight O’ Clock,” Libertus all but screamed at him, spittle splattering over the table.
Drautos sighed and tried not to grimace. “Six O’ Clock. Your enemies aren’t going to wait for you to have a large breakfast and get all your laundry done.”
“Better, but still not good enough. How about 7?”
“5:30,” he replied flatly to Nyx’s suggestion.
“You can’t make the time earlier,” Nyx whined as he leaned halfway across the table in an effort to shove his face into his captain’s. (At least that’s what Drautos was assuming he was trying to do.) “This is a negotiation you’re supposed to move closer to a goal not further away.”
Drautos just stared blankly at Nyx as if to wordlessly communicate just what he thought of that idea.
Nyx sighed and placed his elbows on the desk. He rested his head on his clasped hands and Drautos resisted the urge to shove the glaive away for being just a bit too close. “If six is the best you can do, how about 6:30 hmm? That should be early enough for you and late enough for us to get some beauty sleep. in.”
“5:45.” He smirked as he saw the way that Nyx’s face fell and how Libertus fumed with barely contained rage. It was interesting needling his glaives like this, they always reacted in the most interesting ways. Drautos leaned back in his seat with a self-satisfied sigh. “Like I said, six is the best I could do and you obviously weren’t happy with six.”
A thoughtful look came over Nyx’s face and Nyx leaned in closer to him. “Captain-“
Thankfully, Luche pulled Nyx back at that moment and Drautos breathed a sigh of relief. “Captain, would 6:15 work? It’s close to 6 and we’re getting in at a reasonably early hour.” Drautos hmm’d and looked at Luche for the glaive to expound on his idea further. “No one is around at five and it will let us catch up on some much needed sleep from our late night deployments.”
He pretended to deliberate on it long and hard, even though his mind had already been made up on the matter. (It was very hard to not try to alleviate any suffering the glaives were going through. He cared for his glaives very much, and they had suffered enough already.) “I suppose I can accept 6:15,” he said slowly as if reluctantly accepting the proposal. Nyx whooped (and got off his desk finally) and Libertus just gave a victorious little grin. “But, you must arrive at 6:15 on the dot understand,” he said in the sternest tone he could muster in that moment. “Just because training starts later doesn’t mean you can loiter around.”
“You got it captain!” He watched as Nyx, Libertus, and Luche filed out of his office. Luche giving him a small nod before he left. “Oh man I can’t wait to tell Crowe-“ The door closed with a soft click cutting off whatever else Nyx had to say.
Drautos shook his head and chuckled, grateful the temporary distraction was done with, before going back to the reports and paperwork he still had to go through.
…
He completely forgot about the “negotiation” until he went back home to Cor later that night and remembered that he would need to readjust his alarm. Cor was reading something in bed, and grunted when he saw him change the clock out of the corner of his eye. “Didn’t think we had to adjust the time for another few weeks at least.” The man paused to flip a page. “So are we moving forward or back an hour?”
Drautos shook his head. “No, I need to adjust my alarm.”
His response caused Cor to scoff and look up from his book at him in disbelief. “You? Change your alarm? Who are you and what happened to my dearly beloved husband who always wakes at an ungodly hour in the morning?”
He sighed and slipped into the covers with Cor when the alarm was updated. They both ignored the way that Cor flopped against him and resumed reading. “Nothing, actually, me and the glaives have come to an agreement.”
“Oh?”
“Yes.” Amusement laced his tone as he lightly slung an arm around Cor. “Training will start at 6:15 instead of 5 now.”
“Oh?” Cor flipped another page. Drautos narrowed his eyes, that tone seemed distinctly uninterested for news that Cor should be leaping at given all the times the man grumbled at him for getting up so early. “So does that mean that you’ll be sleeping in later then?”
Drautos narrowed his eyes further. “You know,” he started slowly. “You were awfully clingy this morning.”
“Oh was I,” Cor asked in deceptively innocent tone.
Drautos leaned into Cor’s space and lowered the book from Cor’s face with one hand. Cor let him do it and looked up at him with those brilliant blue eyes. “And at breakfast you kept mentioning that you wished we had more time in the morning to spend together.” A challenging smile spread over Cor’s face, edging him on. “Did the glaives put you up to this?”
“And what would you do if they did?”
Drautos growled and yanked the book out of Cor’s grasp to throw in the corner of his room right as Cor lunged up at him to capture his lips in a passionate kiss.
Gladio waited until both Prompto and Noctis were sound asleep before cracking open two bottles of beer he had hidden at the bottom of the cooler they used to carry food. Ignis gratefully took a bottle from him and downed a quarter of it in front of him. He watched with amusement as the other man sighed when removing the bottle from his lips. “Trying to get drunk there Iggy?” Ignis just grunted. “We need you sober to drive, you know?”
Ignis waved him off. “I’ll be sober by morning-“
“-or you could let Noct drive-“
“-and have him crash the Regalia? I think not.”
Gladio smirked as he leaned back in his chair, taking a swig from his bottle. “Feels good to finally let loose for once, huh?”
Ignis just sighed. “A bath would be heavenly right about now but-“ He gestured to the wilderness around him. “No baths here.”
He let out a bark of laughter. “You could drive to a motel tomorrow-“
“-our funds might be a bit low-“
He leaned forward. “-or a camper.”
“Too cramped.”
“Hmm.” Without another word he got up and began to rub Ignis’ shoulders and back. Ignis let out a pleased sigh. “We’ve been run rather ragged, huh?”
“Indeed.”
“Let me take care of that.” Gladio pressed a kiss to his back.
Gifts - a 221b for Noctis’ birthday (happy birthday Noctis)
It wasn’t like he didn’t appreciate gifts. He did, had ever since he was a kid, but the vast number of gifts that were given to him just ended up taking space in his apartment. Noctis never knew what to do with the fourth copy of the latest racing game that everyone was always talking about. He also never knew how to tell people that, while he was grateful he was in their thoughts, he didn’t particularly enjoy the socks or the game or the … whatever it was that had been given to him. Or he already had a copy. Or the notebook was cute, but he had a stack of cute notebooks in a corner of his room that was threatening to topple over at any moment.
Most of it ended up getting donated anyway.
Gladio liked to tease him about it, the curse of being a prince that everyone liked, and he would tsk and brush away the older teen’s hand resting on his head. It wasn’t that he hated the attention it was just that … there was always so much stuff he ended up getting.
(He didn’t need anything more than cake and good company, anyway.)
Noctis grinned as Ignis placed down the cake and Prompto urged him to blow out the candles. His friends were the best.
The kitchen was filled with the sounds of something sizzling in pans and pots of things happily boiling away. Gladio stopped by the doorway, as he liked to do every so often, just to watch Ignis in his domain. You wouldn’t know that Ignis was blind from the way the man expertly switched from cutting up scallions for garnish to stirring a pot of something to turning off one of the four burners in use before the fish could burn. Already, delicious scents were beginning to waft from the kitchen and, in the other room, he could start to hear Prompto and Noctis begin to muse on what culinary delight Iggy had whipped up for them this time.
Gladio thought that he was being quiet just standing in the doorway watching Ignis at work, but something must have given him away, for Ignis turned towards the doorway and, while not looking at him directly, spoke. “Gladio could you get the sauce I made last night from the fridge? My hands are a bit full right now.”
“The one in the third shelf next to the celery,” he asked even as he was retrieving it from the fridge.
“Yes, that one, thank you.”
Gladio chuckled as he grabbed the pot from the shelf. Good organization was why Ignis could cook while blind.
Rating: PG
Pairing: Pelnyx (pelna x nyx)
Fandom: FFXV
@ffxv-rarepair-army week 1 of august prompts:
Pelna/Nyx and Hogwarts!AU
He shooed Nyx out of his chair and the other professor promptly crouched down by his desk as he sat down. Nyx placed his arms on the least messy corner of the desk and rested his head on his arms. “How does that even work anyway? Do muggles really make pens that can’t write things?”
Pelna sighed and looked at Nyx. He raised one eyebrow and took the tone that he used with particularly dense students. “Well what have you tried doing with it?”
Nyx hummed. “Well I dipped it into the inkwell, but it seemed kinda hard to control and the lines weren’t as fine.”
Pelna muttered to himself about overeager students and broken phones, and weren’t they lucky that Pelna had extras on hand? Nyx was sitting in his chair when he walked into his office. He stopped at the entranceway. The other professor seemed enraptured by a dragonfly he had no doubt transfigured from something at hand. He grimaced and slowly walked around his office.
The dragonfly hadn’t come from nowhere.
Nyx was the transfiguration professor, which meant that he had to have transfigured it from something at hand. Unfortunately, for Pelna, the only things at hand would have been the random detritus of muggle life he had on hand for his lessons. Which meant that the dragonfly would had to have been transfigured from something of his. He looked at the dragonfly, noting its round shape and gold and black markings, before looking at his desk.
He made a noise of triumph when he noticed that one of the fountain pens he kept, mostly for his own use than as demonstration equipment, was missing. Pelna cleared his throat to catch Nyx’s attention and held out a hand. “I think you transfigured something of mine.” Nyx stopped watching the dragonfly and looked up at him with his mouth slightly opened. “I’d appreciate if you transfigured back the pen please.”
Pelna continued to stare at him as Nyx stared between his outstretched hand and the dragonfly that was flitting above his head. Finally, the other professor sighed and wordlessly cast the spell to undo the spell. He watched as the dragonfly morphed to a pen that was guided gently into his hand by magic. He closed his hands around the pen. “Thank you.”
He shooed Nyx out of his chair and the other professor promptly crouched down by his desk as he sat down. Nyx placed his arms on the least messy corner of the desk and rested his head on his arms. “How does that even work anyway? Do muggles really make pens that can’t write things?”
Pelna sighed and looked at Nyx. He raised one eyebrow and took the tone that he used with particularly dense students. “Well what have you tried doing with it?”
Nyx hummed. “Well I dipped it into the inkwell, but it seemed kinda hard to control and the lines weren’t as fine.”
“You dipped it into the ink-“ Pelna cut himself off and gave an annoyed huff when he noticed the pen cap was indeed covered in ink. He grumbled about how Nyx was an idiot sometimes under his breath as he pulled out some scratch paper and wiped the ink off the cap. Nyx continued to watch him with wide eyes as he glanced at the paper where, indeed, someone had to write on with little luck.
There was ah ‘oh’ as he uncapped the pen and scribbled his name onto the paper underneath the wide lines of ink. “Muggles don’t make pens they can’t write with, the pen just has a cap.”
“Why?”
“So, the ink doesn’t dry out when they leave it lying around, and so they don’t get ink on things when they’re carrying it in a pocket or purse.”
“Oh.”
Pelna shook his head and pressed a quick kiss to the tip of Nyx’s nose. Nyx scrunched up his face before tilting his head to meet his lips in a proper kiss. “Aren’t you a muggleborn?” He asked between quick kisses. “How do you not know these things?”
Nyx gave him one last long smooch before pulling back. “I was raised by my mom who’s a witch. She only let me see my muggle dad on breaks for a few weeks, and all we did was watch movies and eat popcorn.”
He couldn’t help but sigh ruefully. No matter how many times Nyx told this story, he still couldn’t believe how Nyx knew some things about muggle life and not others. (It was always the strangest things that he knew and didn’t know too.) “You never watched him write anything huh?” He held up the pen and waved it in the air a bit. “I’m sure he used something just like this.”
Nyx shook his head and stood up to wrap his arms around Pelna’s shoulders. “Nah, I had these pencils that wrote in different colors. It was cool, I had lots of fun writing and drawing with them.” Pelna rolled his eyes and went back to grading assignments. “So, what were you teaching in class today, Professor Khara?”
Oh, so Nyx was feeling playful, was he? He cleared his throat. “Well, Professor Ulric, today I was teaching my students about mobile phones-“
A/N: ... I probably do need to update my tumblr more often ^^;;
... oh and read the prompts because somehow I went for the bonus au prompt and skipped the actual prompts orz
Cornyx week day 2 prompts: “Both, both is good.” | Hands | Nyx babysitting baby Prompto
Nyx had to hand it to the guy. Baby Prompto was almost attached to Cor’s hip and wherever he went, so did the baby. Cor would have taken Prompto to the citadel for briefings if he could, but he couldn’t. So here was Prompto, giggling as Nyx wiggled his fingers in front of the baby.
He couldn’t help but grin when Prompto gripped one of his fingers with his tiny hands. It was a good, strong grip, he thought to himself, and it foretold good things about the boy.
Cor got off the phone with a tired look on his face. “They want me to go to the citadel for an emergency debriefing,” Cor said as he gently bounced the baby, who they had decided to name Prompto, in his arms.
“Now,” Nyx asked with a frown and furrowed eyebrows. He had thought that Cor had been given the week off since he had just gotten back from a long and tiring mission. “They want you to come in now?”
Cor sighed and murmured a few sweet nothings to baby Prompto before kissing his forehead and handing him off to Nyx. “It seems like they want to go over a few details in the report I gave them. In person, of course.” There was a wry grin on Cor’s face as Nyx showed his displeasure by wrinkling his nose. He relaxed when Cor pressed a quick kiss against his lips before bending down to kiss Prompto’s nose. “I would bring the baby with me but-”
“-no children in the audience chamber, of course.” Cor laughed as he slipped on his boots and straightened his shirt a bit. Nyx gave him a little wave as he left the apartment, before turning back to baby Prompto, who blinked up at him with bright blue eyes.
“Awake now?” The baby yawned and gurgled a bit. Nyx could only laugh at the confused expression on his face. Prompto seemed enraptured by his laugh before letting out his own high squeaked giggle. He made a silly face that caused Prompto to laugh even harder. “Yeah, daddy Nyx is a bit of a funny guy, isn’t he?”
Gently, he rocked Prompto in his arms as he made his way to the kitchen. “Your Papa Cor loves you very dearly, but he had a very important grown up meeting to go to.” The baby gurgled and made a confused noise. He wrinkled his nose again. “Yeah, grown up meetings suck too.” He got another gurgle that he took to be an agreement. “But tell you what? Since we might be spending the entire day together, how about we have some quality dad time, just you and me?” Prompto shrieked as he got the formula out of the fridge. He tried not to wince as he nodded along. “Yeah, sounds good doesn’t it?”
The formula went into the formula warmer and he beamed down at the bundle in his hands and waggled his fingers in front of Prompto’s face. One of the baby’s tiny, wrinkly hands reached up to grab one of his fingers. He smiled when he felt how strong the hold was, and outright laughed when the formula warmer beeped and he wasn’t able to tug his finger away.
Back in Galahd, they always said that a baby with a strong grip was sure to grow up healthy and strong. He had a feeling that Cor would be happy to hear that. He smiled softly to himself at the thought.
Thinking quickly, he blew a raspberry in the baby’s belly. Prompto giggled happily and let go of his finger. Nyx smiled winningly down at the baby as he grabbed the bottle and tested a drop on his wrist. Satisfied with the temperature he held the nib in front of Prompto, who promptly began to feed.
There was only the sound of a suckling as Nyx relocated them both to the couch and began to sing a soft Galahdian tune he remembered from his childhood. He had a feeling that the day was going to pass by just fine.
…
When Cor got back home later that day, he arrived to the sight of Prompto resting on Nyx’s belly who was fast asleep. Quietly he slipped off his boots and padded over to Nyx to press a soft kiss to the other man’s eyelashes. Nyx awoke with a soft moan. “Cor,” he drawled sleepily.
“Hmm?”
“If you had to choose between me or Prompto, who would you choose?”
Cor pretended to take a moment to think. It was one of those sleepy questions that Nyx liked to pose when he just woke up. It was only about as serious as whether golden geese would like waffles or pancakes better. “Hmm, both, both is good.” He pressed another kiss to Nyx’s nose as the man moaned that’s not what he meant. "I'd choose both of you because you're both important to me."
The noise awoke Prompto who began to sniffle and he kneeled down on the ground as he ran a hand over Prompto’s head. The motion seemed to soothe the baby who looked up at him quizzically. “Hey there, little guy, Nyx didn’t scare you did he?” Nyx gave him the most dour look he could muster as Cor began to tell Prompto about his day.
CorNyx Week Day 1 Prompts: ‘I’ll bring you coffee.” / Lingerie / Cor bringing home baby prompto
When Cor finally arrived at the doorsteps of their shared apartment, Nyx was waiting with a mug of coffee and a frown on his face. “You know, I was serious about tempting you back home with some lovely lingerie I found if you didn’t contact me within the week so-” Cor knew when Nyx noticed the bundle he was holding close to him for he trailed off and stared at it. “What is that?”
“That,” Cor begun. “Is a baby.”
Nyx blinked owlishly. “Why do you have a baby?”
“Give me the coffee and I’ll explain.”
Wordlessly, Nyx stepped aside so he could enter the apartment and Cor was never more thankful too render Nyx speechless in his life.
It seemed like Nyx had only just fallen asleep when he was woken up by his phone. He groaned as he reached for the flashing flip phone just underneath his pillow. (No nice, shiny, breakable smartphones for the glaives.) “Hello,” he answered sleepily into the phone without even bothering to see who it was. A mission for the glaives could strike at any time potentially, even if he would rather it not strike during his sleep. “Whatd’ya need?”
“Nyx?”
Nyx sprung awake at the voice. It was a voice that he had been desperately wishing to hear again for these past two weeks. “Cor?”
Nothing but quiet static in the other end, and he wondered if Cor could hear his heartbeat pounding rabbit quick in his throat. Finally, when Nyx was worried he was going to pass out from holding his breath, he heard that beautiful voice again. “Hey Nyx, sorry about the timing. I keep forgetting the time difference between here and Insomnia.”
Feeling deliriously happy, or maybe just plain delirious, he played it off. “Oh, it’s not so bad, you know it’s only-” he glanced at the alarm clock by the bed. “-2:13 in the morning. You’ve kept me up later than that.” Complete silence and he felt something in him break at the lack of reaction. “Cor? You can laugh you know, it’s a joke-”
“-yeah, still, I’m sorry, Nyx-”
He sat up, it wasn’t like Cor to apologize so often. “Cor? What’s going on? Are you hurt? Cor, what-”
“-Nyx, I’ll be arriving in Insomnia tomorrow around four in the morning, do you think you’ll be awake enough to let me into the apartment?”
Nyx opted for a weak joke instead. “I can do you one better. I found a lovely white teddy just the other day. It’s lace and feels silky smooth against my skin-”
“-Nyx-”
“-how about I wait for you in bed wearing nothing but that teddy and you can unwrap your gift however you li-”
“-Nyx will you be able to let me into the apartment or not,” Cor finally snapped on the other end, apparently not in the mood for teasing.
Nyx swallowed. “I’ll bring you coffee,” he finally said as he stared aimlessly at the opposite wall.
“Thank you Nyx, I’ll see you then.” Cor hung up without another word and Nyx slowly let his hand fall and stared at the flip phone as he tried to piece together what had just happened.
Cor had left nearly a month ago on a one-man mission that he couldn’t give the details for. Last he heard, the marshal had been spotted in Tenebrae and the mission was nearly compromised because whoever found him had wagged their tongue to the wrong person. It had been radio silence from the man since then and he hadn’t shaken the thought that the next time he heard about him, it would be from some rando announcing that they were sorry, but the mission had ended in a failure and the man he loved was dead.
His friends had tried to reassure and distract him as best they could but- he took in a shaky breath and slipped his phone back under the pillow as he laid back in bed and tried to fall back asleep. It was an early start for him, as always.
(He slept uneasily that night and, though he could not remember them, his dreams filled with an unshakeable sense of dread.)
…
When Cor finally arrived at the doorsteps of their shared apartment, Nyx was waiting with a mug of coffee and a frown on his face. “You know, I was serious about tempting you back home with some lovely lingerie I found if you didn’t contact me within the week so-” Cor knew when Nyx noticed the bundle he was holding close to him for he trailed off and stared at it. “What is that?”
“That,” Cor begun. “Is a baby.”
Nyx blinked owlishly. “Why do you have a baby?”
“Give me the coffee and I’ll explain.”
Wordlessly, Nyx stepped aside so he could enter the apartment and Cor was never more thankful too render Nyx speechless in his life. Cor nodded his thanks and brushed past him into the apartment, as lightly furnished and decorated as it ever was. He had only taken a few steps into the residence when the baby in his arms began to fuss. Cor cooed and rocked the bundle in his arms back and forth. “Shh, shh, little guy, it’s okay.”
When the baby began to cry, he squeezed his eyes shut and let his forehead rest against the baby’s. It had really been a tough few days. “It’s alright little guy, you’re safe, no big, bad scientists around to hurt you, it’s-” Cor couldn’t tell if it was his voice, though he kept it low and soothing, or something else that discomforted the child for the baby began to cry and louder this time.
“Let me see.” Nyx’s voice burst through the fog of weariness and stress of the past few days like a kukri through warp sparks. Gently, Nyx took the bundle from Cor and handed him the coffee without so much as sloshing the hot liquid in the mug. Cor could only tiredly watch as Nyx cooed over the bundle and bounced it in his arms. Slowly the crying began to die down as Nyx murmured soft comforting words to the baby before slipping into a rich, melodic lullaby in words that he couldn’t even begin to comprehend. Cor, too, could feel the stress slowly fall away. And with it, came a sense of deep, unfathomable sadness.
Nyx ushered them both to the couch. Cor took a few sips from the mug as he watched Nyx and the baby out of the corner of his eye. Nyx was good with kids. The man would probably be a good father, he thought to himself. Nyx looked up from the bundle and met his eyes when the sounds in his arms had stopped, “now talk. What happened and why did you come back with a baby?”
He took a deep breath and set the mug down on the coffee table. Cor clasped his hands together and looked down at his feet and wondered where to begin. With Regis and the mission details? What had happened in Tenebrae? No, it all started with- “There was a woman who turned up at the Gates over a month back. She was delirious with a high fever and badly infected injuries, but she insisted that she had to speak to the King of Lucis and she had information about the Niflheim army that was for his ears and his ears alone …”
Shinki were beholden to only one master, the god that named them. It wasn’t a sin to look upon another god’s shinki, but it was to desire them as one’s own.
Still, Cor couldn’t look away from Regis’ newest shinki, and neither could said shinki look away from him.
As a spirit, Titus was noticeable for the same reasons that he was as when he was a broadsword. Titus was tall and broad, a man with his brown hair cut to military regulation length, and storm gray eyes that seemed as tough as stone at times. At other times, when he was smiling, they were soft and the edges of his eyes crinkled slightly. During those times, Titus’ eyes reminded him of a plain but soft and well-loved sweatshirt. One that he could hold onto during cold nights and dulled the loneliness at the edge of his mind.
Regis, as he was wont to do, noticed how Cor’s gaze seemed to be drawn towards his newest shinki like metal to a magnet. He laughed and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Impressive isn’t he,” the other god asked, laughter teasing at the edges of his voice. “He’s deadly in battle, too, and I consider myself quite lucky to have found him when I did.”
Cor gulped as he thought of the broadsword Regis wielded sometimes. He thought of its heavy hilt with minimal decoration. He thought of the red blade that bled into metal gray at the tip. He thought of how wide it was by the hilt before tapering down to form a vaguely triangular silhouette. He thought about how plain it looked in comparison to Regis’ other weapons, the red metal by the hilt the only thing that stood out. It was much like the man, he mused, eye-catching without purposefully setting out to be so. “Where did you find him anyway?”
Regis gave him a mysterious smile and an indirect answer. “The wars recently have killed many a good man. Not all of them deserve to have their lives cut short, wouldn’t you agree, oh God of War?”
He made a small noise and looked away. Regis using his title suddenly unnerved him, but he had gotten the answer he needed. Cor glanced at Titus when Regis looked away. Killed in battle huh?
…
Titus liked to train early in the mornings, and Cor took to watching him. They greeted each other with silent glances and nods and slowly accepted the other’s presence. Titus never asked why he was there. Cor never bothered to explain why he showed up.
In the beginning, he was content to just watch, but slowly, over time, he joined in. Titus would wait for him in the corner of the temple before dawn so they could run around the block together. Sometimes, Cor would pick up a wooden sword and give Titus a sparring partner instead of watching the shinki go through the drills by himself. (Titus training in the early dawn morning, body glistening with light layer of sweat, was a sight to behold. But sometimes Cor wasn’t content to just watch and longed to feel the strength in those arms himself.)
And slowly, through wordless meetings and runs and accidental brushes, Titus began to meet Cor’s glances. He found the shinki looking back at him with those intense gray eyes that he could never get enough of. He smiled softly, and the spirit smiled back.
“Hey,” he greeted, not knowing what else to say.
“Hello,” Titus replied in a deep voice, sweet in its softness.
They stared at each other until a voice called for Titus and the moment was broken. Cor watched as the spirit excused himself and left.
…
They talked about useless things when they weren’t training. They talked about the birds in the trees and the funny shapes the clouds made when they collapsed out of exhaustion and looked up. They talked about the people that would stop by the temples to leave offerings. They talked about the offerings that were left.
Cor learned that Titus had a soft spot for children.
Titus learned that Cor liked to seek quiet places when he needed to think.
Cor showed Titus his favorite spots.
Titus let Cor watch in on him training Regis’ younger shinkis in the finer arts of combat.
Slowly, the two grew closer to each other, and with that closeness came a fondness for one another.
…
It was not possible for gods to sin. Only shinki, who had once been human (and therefore understood the concept of right and wrong), could sin, and only other shinki could absolve them from it. One of Regis’ older shinkis had taken Titus in hand and explained it to him when the pact was still newly formed. To be chosen by a god as their servant was the highest honor, and it was an honor repaid by living a pious life free from sin. For whatever wrongs wrought by a shinki would reflect back on their god, and in the most unpleasant ways.
He shivered as he thought of that now, curled up against Cor, the two having drifted off to sleep after a long training session. The god looked completely relaxed in sleep, one heavy arm draped over him, trapping him in place. Cor held Titus to him like he was something precious. Something stolen just to be treasured by him.
Titus shivered again and let his eyes fall shut. Cor was nice. He liked being around Cor. He was allowed to be Cor. He was allowed to make friends with Cor, even if Cor was a god. Titus let himself fall into an uneasy sleep telling himself that this was okay and that he was allowed this. That Regis would never fault him for growing close to Cor.
(Later that day, Regis felt a sharp stabbing pain in his back. The pain faded as quickly as it had come and he frowned as he wondered which of his many shinki had been led astray.)
…
Titus seemed more sullen in the days and weeks that passed by. Some days, the shinki was missing from their usual meeting spot.
Meanwhile, rumors began to spread of one of Regis’ shinkis becoming blighted, and that it had reflected back on their master. No one knew which of his many shinkis was responsible and Cor couldn’t help but asking after the other god’s health.
“They’re just overreacting,” Regis told him when he asked one day. “It’s fine Cor, it’s not as bad as the rumors make it out to be. It’s just around my knee, and it hasn’t spread.”
Cor frowned. “Still, if one of your shinki is stinging you-“
Regis gave him a wry smile, “shinki used to be human Cor, and they have an unfaltering sense of right and wrong.” He waved him off and resumed looking over the report he had put down when Cor came in. “Whoever it is is probably being wracked with guilt right now, and hopefully they’ll come to their senses enough to stop it.” That had been the end of the conversation and it was never brought up again.
Cor found his focus turning from Regis to Titus instead. He found himself waiting at their usual spot in the corner of the temple where the maple had turned gold and red with the seasons for longer than usual. Sometimes Titus turned up, and sometimes he didn’t.
It was on one of those days when Titus did turn up that Cor noticed how tired and weary the shinki seemed. The spirit seemed to draw into himself, trying to make himself smaller than he really was. “Are you alright,” he asked, immediately concerned for the spirit.
Titus looked up at him. His gray eyes which had once been sharp and focused seemed dull and unenergetic. “I’m fine, Cor,” the man said, his voice barely above a whisper. “Just tired.”
Cor pulled Titus towards himself and tried to comfort the spirit as best he could. He ignored how Titus fisted his shirt and buried his face into his neck. He spoke of unimportant things as he watched bright orange leaves fall from the trees. Their branches would be bare before the month was done, and with it the snows would come. He tightened his grasp around Titus and felt the sudden burning desire to never let go.
…
It all came to a head the day he found a human child in his temple. One of his two shinki, Monica, his oldest and most trusted, was missing and his other shinki, Dustin, was busy keeping the child amused and fed. Cor blinked. Most humans did not have the spiritual energy to see spirits and gods, but here the child was interacting with Dustin. It was a rare child that was blessed with such an ability.
The child looked up as he approached and smiled. “Hello, I’m Prompto.” Dustin looked between Prompto and Cor, silently asking if he should pull the child aside. Cor simply glanced in his direction to tell the spirit that it was okay and focused his attention back on the human child. “Um, Titus brought me here saying that it’d be okay to stay here and, oh, my parents were kinda mean and he was angry they were mistreating me, and, is it okay if I stay here? Titus said there was a very nice man that could take care of me, and Dustin’s pretty nice even if Monica is kinda scary, and, uh, I promise that I’ll be well behaved and do whatever chores that need doing and get my homework done and eat my vegetables. So, can I stay? Please?”
The words washed over Cor like water over rock and he rubbed his forehead as he tried to make sense of the request. The child wanted to stay here? “I can’t let you stay here,” he said as Prompto’s face promptly fell. “This is a temple, not a childraising service, and there are dangerous things about. It’s not safe for you here.”
“I- I could have taken care of myself,” the child said softly, looking down at his hands. “But, uh, I guess I can leave if you say so.” Cor nodded to Dustin who gently ushered the child out of the seat and towards the exit. “But it’s okay if I stop by, right? Your temple is really nice, and I just need to get away from the house sometimes.”
The child looked so hopeful that Cor couldn’t find it in himself to deny the request. “Fine.” The child’s face shone like the sun and he found himself adding more before Prompto could start cheering, “but only sometimes and not often enough that your parents are calling the cops because you’re missing.”
“Oh fine, if you say so.” The kid half waved at him before deciding against it and giving him a bow instead and he watched as Dustin and the kid disappeared down the path. He grinned wryly to himself and thought back to what the kid had said. Titus had brought him here, huh? He had a feeling he’d need to have a talk with the shinki when he saw him next. He couldn’t fault the spirit for wanting to bring the child to safety, if he was indeed being abused, but Titus simply couldn’t bring human children around to the temple.
When Monica came back later that night, she stared at him blankly when he brought up needing to speak to Titus. “You’re forbidden from seeing him.”
He looked up at her in shock, not expecting that particular response. “Excuse me?”
Monica busied herself with preparing their evening meal. “Titus was found to be blighting his master.” Cor felt a chill go down his spine at those words. Regis’ condition, Titus’ mood, it all made sense now. “The cause seems to be his- feelings towards you, and, as such, you are forbidden from meeting each other.”
He stared at her back wondering if she would say more. He looked away when it was clear she wouldn’t. “I see.”
…
He still stopped by the corner of Regis’ temple every so often. Titus wasn’t there anymore, but he couldn’t help but stand there waiting for some glimpse of the shinki. (He stood there hoping that the shinki would run past on his morning jog, and he could watch as he used to.) Titus never showed up and he was snubbed by the rest of Regis’ shinki whenever he asked after him.
Cor could see in the steely gaze of Monica’s eyes that she didn’t approve of his routine. He couldn’t help himself. He wanted to know how Titus was doing, and if he was okay. (If he was reminded of Cor in the little things just like how they reminded Cor of Titus. If sometimes he placed a hand in the space besides him and wondered what it would be like if another person was there.)
Having Prompto stop by every so often didn’t help things. Prompto was a polite, if energetic, young boy and he had grown fond of him the more he stopped by. (From Prompto he heard about his abuse and neglect at the hands of his parents and, well, he couldn’t fault Titus for his actions.) Prompto would sometimes ask after Titus, and Cor never knew what to say to the child.
The maple trees at the corner of temple had long lost their leaves and he watched as their branches were laden with snow, and then bare again when the snow melted.
When finally buds began to sprout from the branches, Cor stopped stopping by that particular corner, finally having made peace with never seeing Titus again.
…
There was a knocking on his door. It was a polite rap, followed by silence, and then another polite rap when there was no response from inside. “Coming,” he called as he rubbed sleep from his eyes and walked to the door. He could only stare in amazement when a familiar set of gray eyes met his.
“May I come in,” Titus asked in that deep but soft voice of his.
Cor held the door open farther so Titus could slip by. “Of course.” He resisted the urge to grab Titus as the spirit brushed by. “What brings you here?”
Titus looked around the entranceway before staring back at Cor with a wry grin. “Regis saw that I was unhappy in his employ-“ Cor couldn’t help but wince a bit at the description, “unhappy” was an interesting description for living in pain because of deeds done by your shinki. “-and decided to let me go.” Cor stared at Titus for a moment as the words slowly sank in. “He told me to go find someone I could be happy with.”
Cor stepped away from the doorway and grabbed the spirit by his upper arms as everything clicked into place. “You mean?!”
The spirit nodded and grinned. “I don’t suppose you are in want of anther shinki? I find myself needing another god to serve, suddenly.”
Laughter slipped through his lips as he spun them around. “How- then- is the name Drautos okay with you?” He beamed when the spirit nodded, and he breathed the words that would bind them together. (As it should have been.)
Fandom: FFXV
Pairing: Draucor, implied draucornyx
Rating: M
@draucorweek day 7 prompts: “For the love of the six please stop” // clothes // getting together
Titus leaned away when he felt hands reach underneath his shirt. He twitched when he felt a warm breath on his neck followed by lips softly caressing the skin there. “Cor,” he hissed. “Stop.”
There was a warm chuckle just beneath his ear. “Why should I?”
“For the love of the six please stop!”
It was warm in the city that day, warm and muggy, so Titus was a little less composed than he usually would be. He wasn’t wearing his usual jacket and his shirt had the top three buttons unbutton and the sleeves were rolled up to his elbows. Slacks and leather dress shoes were traded for cargo pants and sandals.
He had no lectures for the day, and he had decided to spare the two assistants he did have the heat by giving them a day off. The only person in the greenhouse, even more sweltering than it usually would be, was him. When the door to the greenhouse opened suddenly, Titus stopped what he was doing for the briefest of seconds before resuming his actions. It was strange that someone would decide to stop by the greenhouse, but he figured they had a good reason to be here.
Footsteps approached him in a quick clip and stopped right behind them. He was about to ask what they wanted when he felt hands on his neck. Titus shivered. The hands felt cold and good on such a warm day. “Mmmm.” He forced himself to breath as he arched his neck as the hands trailed slowly down his neck.
There’s a chuckle behind him, a familiar chuckle. “All alone in the greenhouse and in less clothing than usual,” Cor teased. “You should be more careful. Someone might want to take advantage of you here.”
Titus leaned away when he felt hands reach underneath his shirt. He twitched when he felt a warm breath on his neck followed by lips softly caressing the skin there. “Cor,” he hissed. “Stop.”
There was a warm chuckle just beneath his ear. “Why should I?”
Titus jerked away when the hand beneath his shirt tweaked a nipple. “For the love of the six please stop!”
Cor chuckled into his neck. “Sensitive there?” He felt teeth scrape against his skin. “Mmm, and you do know the six aren’t as worshiped in this world, right?”
Titus gulped and squeezed his eyes shut as he felt hands move lower down his torso. “But they still exist in this world so, please, stop teasing me like this.”
“But you have such lovely reactions to being teased like this.” He felt a lips attach themselves to the join is his neck and shoulder. A hand teasing rubbed the front of his underpants before the hand removed itself from his body and Cor took a step back. Titus was panting lightly and gripped the table edge tightly to prevent himself from collapsing. “Mmm, just like that.” He felt Cor take a step closer to him and arms lightly wrap around his middle. A mouth pressed light kisses to the back of his neck.
He gulped. “Why are you like this, Cor?” Cor just hummed. “What about Nyx?”
Cor laughed lowly. “What about him?” Another kiss to the side of his neck. “You know he’s our shared soulmate, right?” He felt teeth clamp on his earlobe and tug it lightly. “If anything, he’d be jealous he can’t join in.” There was a kiss against his pulse point, and he shivered. “In fact-“ Cor pulled out a phone and lifted it above their heads as he pressed a kiss to the spot just below his ear. “-let’s show him just what a nice picture we make, hmm?” He shivered when Cor’s head dipped down and sucked on the skin along his collarbone. There was a bright flash of light as a few more pictures were taken before Cor finally moved away with a smirk.
“Was that all you were here for,” he asked when he finally managed to catch his breath.
Cor smirked and beckoned him with one finger. “I must not have done a good enough job if you’re still able to ask that.”
Titus grunted and looked down at the clipboard he had set aside. He scanned over the list of things he had done and had to do. Well, if he didn’t get the last few things done on the list, it wouldn’t really matter. He could always get it done tomorrow. “As long as we’re not having sex here.”
Cor burst into laughter and leaned back as he gave him a brief look over. “If you insist, my place is close by.” Titus rolled his eyes as went through the motions of finishing everything up and followed Cor out the greenhouse. Trust the man to know just what buttons to press and where.
A/N: Gah I was late with this one sorry guys orz I meant to get to it yesterday but I ended up being more tired than I realized ;w;
@draucorweek day 6: “Come home” // Goodbye // Cor being outnumbered during the fall of Insomnia and Glauca/Drautos seeing it
Cor in motion was a sight to behold. The fluid grace with which the man moved in the midst of a battle was what caught his eye in the first place, and the spark that lead to the fire of their relationship. Even now, he couldn’t help but stop and marvel at Cor fighting through throne of enemies he had no hope of combating alone. (Even if internally, he was dreading when the man would inevitably fall.)
Drautos had known better than to expect Cor of all people to take the order for the crownsguard to stand down on the day of the treaty signing without a fight. Cor who stood by the royals like his life depended on it, and Cor who was unflinchingly loyal to Regis. No doubt the marshal would argue the crownsguard’s place was by the king’s side, and he would certainly cause trouble if he had even an inkling of what was to befall the city during the signing.
So he requested that Cor be sent away on the day of the signing on some trivial matter he had devised and, smallest of mercies, the king had somehow agreed to do so.
In private, he had also suggested to Monica Elshett, Cor’s second in command, that perhaps she stick by the borders that day just in case. Monica was important to Cor, and, seeing as Cor was important to him, he figured he could afford this as a favor to Cor.
He hadn’t expected Cor to suddenly wise up to the true reason for the treaty, and decide to return to Insomnia for no discernable reason. Even if there was something satisfying about watching Cor slice his way through the MTs with his trusty katana, it was still an unexpected surprise he would have to deal with. “Leave the marshal be,” he ordered, voice distorted through the helmet. “We have much more important targets to take care of.”
“But sir,” one of his human subordinates insisted. “The marshal is the head of the crownsguard. If we take him out we can leave the crownsguard in disarray.”
“The crownsguard are the least of your worries now. The princess must not be allowed to escape the city with the ring in hand. If she does, the crystal will become useless to us. Without the ring, the crystal’s power cannot be accessed.”
“Yes sir!” A few of them scrambled into action to locate the princess and the ring. No doubt Nyx Ulric, that wayward glaive and perpetual thorn in his side, would be with her. No doubt there would be a confrontation between the two of them soon. One he would try to postpone for as long as he could. (For all the trouble Ulric caused him, he couldn’t deny that he admired the glaive just the tiniest bit.)
He switched back to the feed of Cor and felt something akin to rage mixed with horror when he saw a large group of MTs swarm Cor. Drautos found himself checking Cor’s current location. He had moved from where he had been last and seemed to be headed to Section D, which just so happened to be where Nyx was headed.
Drautos set off for Cor’s current location. He might as well hit two birds with one stone if he could.
…
There were a few times in Cor’s life when he came to regret his actions. One, the most memorable, was when at fifteen he thought to challenge Gilgamesh in the ruins, which at that point were newly excavated, at Taelpar Crag. He had been lucky to get out with his life in that fight, and fortunate that the Blademaster thought fit to take only his sword and not his life. Now, being surrounded by enemies and tiring quickly as he fought through them, was another time.
He barely caught sight of the magitek swordsman at his side swing at him and he wondered if this would be the end of him, when a familiar broadsword came into view and blocked the attack. He smirked despite himself when he saw who it was. “My knight in shining armor,” Cor muttered dryly. “Finally decided to start swing that big sword of yours around instead of keeping it on for show huh?”
Maybe it wasn’t the time for idle chit chat, but something about the sight of Titus Drautos with a big sword, swinging it around like it weighed nothing, always did something to him. Drautos had commented on what a sight Cor made when he was fighting, he could say the same of the captain. “Marshal,” Drautos managed to reply as he sliced through yet another MT. “I think it would be best if you talked a little less and swung that oversized blade of yours a little more.”
Cor gave a bark of laughter. Ah, there was that dry wit that had kept his attention all these nights and days. “I think I can manage that, captain.” Having Drautos fight by his side gave him the reprieve he needed and between the two of them, they made quick work of the troopers. Drautos was the one who spotted another dropship land nearby, and who pulled him down a sidestreet before he could say a word with a muffled swear.
“This isn’t to the citadel,” Cor said when he noticed the direction that Drautos was pulling them through down ruined sidestreets and main streets. “Where are you taking me?”
“Out,” Drautos replied with a grunt. “In case you haven’t noticed, it’s not safe here.” Drautos shoved him towards a familiar bike parked on the side of the road and handed the helmet to him. “If I leave you, will you promise me that you’ll leave this place?”
“And leave you to fight those things by yourself?” Cor accepted the helmet from Drautos but could only look at the other man with incredulity. “Have you not seen how they’ve filled pretty much every street and sidestreet? And where are your men captain? They must have a heck of a time keeping this place in order.”
“With yours trying to keep everyone safe and getting people out of the city I suppose.” Cor sighed and sat sideways on the bike, but made no move to put on the helmet. “The crown city isn’t safe to stay at anymore. Right now, the focus is getting everyone out.”
Cor played with the helmet a bit as he glanced around him. Drautos was right, if nothing else, the structural damage to the buildings would need to be fixed before anyone could come back to them. “What about the king? Clarus? What happened to them?” Drautos slowly looked away and he felt a sense of grief welling up in him. Cor knew that it would happen, but to have confirmation. “How-” He took a breath to force himself to calm down. “-how did they die?”
“Honorably, fighting to protect their people.” Drautos pulled their foreheads together. “This is why you have to get out of the city alive, heart. I can’t have you dying on the streets to stop an entire city from falling, it’s going to happen and your death would be meaningless.” Cor felt his breath die in his throat as Drautos pulled away slightly. There was a soft, but sad, look in the other man’s eyes and his lips were quirked in the rare smile. “Go, my heart. The prince needs you out there.”
‘But what about me,’ he thought to himself as Drautos pulled him into a kiss that was meant to be chaste but quickly turned into something deep and fierce. ‘What if I need you by my side?’ Cor was left panting when they finally pulled apart, half lidded eyes sought each other out and he nuzzled his cheek into the warm gloved hand that Drautos had on his face. He moved to lean in when he felt a thumb brush along his cheekbones, back and forth, and Drautos search his eyes and face as if to memorize them.
Drautos moved back and removed his hand. He tried not to lunge for its warmth. (He tried hard not to think about how this felt like a goodbye.) “Now get out of here Cor before the Nifs decide this looks like a good place to land.”
Cor nodded after a brief pause and put on the helmet. “Titus!” He called after the man’s departing back. He felt something like hope blossom in his chest, an almost desperate hope that he couldn’t help but clench to despite how hopeless it was, when Drautos looked back. “When all this is over? Come home safely-” He opened his mouth to say more but realized that their home wasn’t exactly safe to return to anymore. It was probably amongst the apartment blocks that were left a smoldering wreck. He clenched his hands into fists. “I’ll be waiting for you outside the wall, we’ll make a new life for ourselves out there!”
Drautos simply inclined his head to show that he had heard and gave him a little wave before he turned around and walked down the street. Cor didn’t leave until the man was no longer visible. Fortunately, the path from here to the wall was clear and he fought the urge to take the bike back around and drag Drautos out with him.
The man had his duty to protect what was left to the city, and he had a duty to the prince.
@draucorweek day 5 prompts: “Was it worth it?” // Drautos is forced to tell the glaives about Cor and himself after a rumor starts that cor is sleeping with the enemy.
When the rumors first started about Cor sleeping with the enemy, Drautos had sighed and told him that he would talk to his men. After all his men had apparently been the ones to start the rumor, so it was only fair that Drautos take responsibility for it.
The thing about rumors was that there was always a grain of truth to them, no matter how small. Cor had turned over the rumors to find if there was any substance to them. (He still turned over them now after everything had fallen apart.)
Political prisoners were the responsibility of the crownsguard and not the kingsglaive, which explain the rather unfortunate encounter he was having with one of his subordinates. “You wanted to see the traitor sir,” the crownsguard responsible for the prisoner asked, looking at him askew as if he was also under suspicion. “This is the second time this week isn’t it? Aren’t you getting rather-” The young man, couldn’t have been older than 25 really, squinted his eyes up at him. “chummy with him?”
“Let me through,” he said instead of answering the question. “I have important matters to discuss with the prisoner.” Cor ignored the crownsguard grumbling about how the rumors about how Cor the immortal was sleeping with the enemy, and therefore going soft on him, were true. The rumors had been bad, but bearable, when Drautos wasn’t under suspicion. They had only gotten worse when it turned out Drautos was a traitor to the crown.
He inclined his head in acknowledgement to the crownsguard when the man jotted down his name and finally let him through to the visitation area. The visitation area was separated into two rooms divided by a brick wall, in the center of the wall was a large window made out of thick panes of glass that allowed one to see into the other side. Holes were cut out in the window so conversation could be exchanged while the prisoner and visitor were kept physically separate.
Cor stared dispassionately towards the other room until there was the sound of a door opening and finally Drautos appeared in the other room. “Titus,” he greeted with the barest amount of emotion he could manage.
“Cor,” Drautos responded, in kind, inclining his head as he stood in front of the window. “I didn’t think I would see you again so soon.” It was a jibe no doubt, aimed at the long periods of time in the beginning that he would stay away from the man after shouting at him for doing something so stupid and harmful. He could still remember the pure rage he felt then, and how that rage only grew when his former lover had stood on the other side without reacting in any way.
Cor shrugged and pulled forward a chair that just so happened to be the only furniture in the room. Drautos hesitated for a moment before he mirrored the action in his room. “I had a few things I wanted to ask you about, if you’d be amenable to answering them.”
Drautos raised an eyebrow at him. “What more do you want to know? I’ve answered the questions asked of me reasonably well I assume.”
(He hadn’t really. Research that had been done in the former captain’s past had yielded more fruitful results than asking him directly for motives and intel.)
“When the rumors spread amongst the glaives that I was sleeping with the enemy-” It was only due to how long they had been seeing each other and how familiar they had grown with the other’s body language that Cor noticed the way Drautos suddenly tensed and how his eyes flickered just slightly away. He pressed his lips into a thin line. “-what was going through your head then?”
“I didn’t want to drag you into this mess,” Drautos said after a long pause. “You know how the glaives can be when it comes to rumor. I wouldn’t have your reputation tarnished because of some mouthy glaive.”
“Except it wasn’t really my reputation at stake here was it?”
Drautos shrugged and leaned back in his seat. “You were associated with me, at some point or another someone would think to call your loyalty into question as well. As faultless as it may be.” Cor watched as the other man knitted his fingers together in his lap. “I wasn’t going to let people start asking questions of you when you did nothing wrong.” It was too late for that, if his interaction with the crownsguard was anything to go by. He wanted to throw it back at Drautos’ face just to see how the other man would react, but decided to hold his tongue, instead. “I figured if I came out about our relationship the way I did, the worst you would face was a bit of light-hearted ribbing from the glaives about our sex life. Oh, I would try to keep it in check of course, because frankly it’s none of their business, but I figured the alternative was worse.”
Cor let Drautos’ words sink in before he asked the question that had been on his mind this entire time. “Was it worth it?” He didn’t specify what he meant by it, from the way Drautos’ gaze sharpened, he could tell that he didn’t need to.
As he had come to expect, Dratuos gave an indirect answer. “I did what I had to do,” the man said after another long pause where their eyes met and never let go. “I didn’t expect it to go well, but neither did I expect things to happen the way they did.”
It wasn’t a yes, and it wasn’t a no. It was an ambiguous answer that seemed to reflect the current ambiguous state of their relationship. Cor nodded once and then stood to leave. Drautos watched him go without saying a word.
